Responsible Party
by Coke Cam
Summary: When Jane Rizzoli can't put off wisdom teeth surgery any longer, she chooses Maura Isles over her own mother as her responsible party to drive her home and monitor her overnight. While she's correct that Maura will make an excellent nursemaid, what Jane doesn't anticipate is the effect the anesthesia will have on her ability to keep her mouth shut about a certain secret...(Rizzles)


A/N: From a Feltknickers Tumblr prompt about what song Maura would sing along to in the shower (and why). Full disclosure, I had the world's most amazing reaction when I had my wisdom teeth out, so while Jane's experience may be atypical, it is in no way impossible.

"Baby, are you sure you don't want some eggs? I can scramble them with cheddar cheese, just like you like?"

Angela Rizzoli dared to stroke her daughter's hair, still tangled and damp from the shower. Jane remained slumped on the kitchen table, gently cradling her head in the crook of one arm. She shook her head without raising it, and her long dark hair scattered across her shoulders.

"Are you sure?" It was the fourth offering in as many minutes, and each one had been rejected.

"N'huh," Jane mumbled, then wiped the side of her face on one sleeve.

"Do you want some ice?" Angela already had the freezer door open, pulling out cubes to wrap in a clean linen dish towel.

With an exasperated groan, Jane pulled herself upright. "D'n hep me!"

Angela let the ice fall and clatter into the sink basin. "Baby. I'm only gonna say this one time." Jane rolled her eyes and let her head fall back into her arms. "If you had just had your wisdom teeth out when you were 16 like the dentist wanted, then you could've spent all Spring Break recovering, and this would all be over with. Now they're impacted and that made them stubborn to get out. Imagine that—something about you was stubborn. Are you this touchy with Maura?"

Jane raised mournful dark eyes to her mother who had to bite back the urge to laugh at the risk of her own life. She had offered to to be the designated driver for the appointment and been soundly rejected in favor of Jane's best friend, Dr. Maura Isles, who apparently was better qualified in a dozen ways that were beneath Jane to list out. Angela hadn't minded though; Maura knew how to handle Jane when she was cranky and had even convinced her to cooperate with the pre-op guidelines.

When Jane had selected Maura to be her responsible party, Angela had resigned herself to waiting behind at Maura's house. Once they returned and she had confirmed for herself that Jane was still in one piece (minus four wisdom teeth), she slipped out to the guest house and left Maura to deal with an even more irrational than usual Jane. Even though she would have been more than glad to help, it made Angela even happier somehow to know there was someone who would take such good care of Jane which she was sick since she'd begun despairing for her daughter's long-term prospects.

Maura was such a good friend, and such a sweet girl, even if she was a little odd at times. When she had phoned from the waiting room to update Angela, half the medical terms had more than five syllables, and she'd had to ask Maura to go back and explain everything again. It hadn't turned out to be anything serious though, just that they could expect excessive swelling given how impacted all four of the wisdom teeth were. Angela hadn't been surprised to hear it since Frankie's face had swollen up like a chipmunk, but nothing had prepared her for what she saw this morning when she had entered the kitchen. Overnight Jane's cheeks had blown up to the size of grapefruits, and her attempts at conversation came out as angry, incoherent mutters.

A furious tapping brought Angela around, and she saw that Jane had written a message on one of the notepads Maura had left throughout the house. The noise came from the sleek gold pen she was thwacking the pen against the pad. Angela leaned closer to read:

_Where's Maura?_

"Oh, she left for work, sweetie. That was about half an hour before you came down. It was really nice of her to let you stay over while you're recovering, but she asked if I could get you anything you want while she's gone."

Jane dropped the notepad back to the kitchen table and stared morosely at it. If Angela hadn't known better, she would have said her daughter was moping. Jane was never one for that though; if she wanted something, she went after it, and she certainly didn't waste any time pitying herself. But now there was something almost vulnerable in the way Jane sat, her shoulders slumped in, mouth twisting from side to side, and tiny sighs escaping her.

Before she could stop herself, Angela leaned down to give her daughter a one-armed hug where she sat, careful not to jostle Jane's cheeks. "I know you'd rather be with your friend, but she'll be back soon. Your old Mom's not so bad, is she? You can talk to me if you need to. You know I'll always love you."

Angela stumbled backwards as Jane shot upright out of her chair and whirled on her, staring wildly. "Whyushh?"

"I'm sorry, honey, what?"

Jane repeated herself, and her face grew red as she became less coherent the harder she tried. Snatching up the notepad, she scrawled:

_What did you say?_

"That Maura will be back." Angela knew better than to tell her to calm down, but even that brief assurance didn't help. "After that? I said she'd be back and...and I'm here to help? And I love you? Of course, I do, baby. I'll always love you, even when..."

_Keys?_

Without waiting for her to answer, Jane lurched from the room, leaving her mother clutching the back of the chair for balance, her other hand pressed to her heart.

§ § §

In the back storeroom of the morgue, Maura Isles braced her palms against the freshly scrubbed countertop. She closed her eyes as she folded forward, bringing her elbows down to support her weight. For once it was quiet, without any pending autopsies, and she had been able to slip away. No one knew she was here, not even her assistant Suzy who was, for once, off on her own business. She didn't think she could have kept her composure under that friendly scrutiny, but here by herself, only for a moment, she allowed herself to remember.

They had cautioned her at the dentist's office that Jane would be disoriented and not quite herself when she came out. Maura had assured them that she knew all about the lingering effects of anesthesia, although in truth her patients never came around after they were on her table.

"It can make people say things they don't mean," the receptionist warned her.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Maura said. "Jane and I have been friends for a long time; I don't take anything she says personally."

"On the other hand, you might get the truth out of her if you ask. Do you want to know what you're getting for Christmas this year?"

Just then, before Maura could say that she was fairly certain it would be a gift card to the movies (again) and she would use it alone (again), Jane wobbled out of the exam room with an assistant holding her up by one elbow.

"Yu w'nnerful," she gargled to the dentist, the assistant, the receptionist, and two patients she had never met. "L'ff yu, an' yu, an I l'ff errybobby. Oh...Mawa!"

Before Maura could duck away, Jane had enveloped her in enormous hug that was nothing like the usual quick, awkward embraces that Jane allowed her."Th'nk you," she sighed as she rubbed Maura's back with one hand. "Th'nk yu f'r dribigg me. I'lff yu too, Mawa."

"You're welcome." Maura's voice sounded breathless to her own ears, but it was hard to think much less breathe like this. She could hardly remember the last time anyone had hugged her this way, so gently and lovingly.

"See?" The receptionist was smiling brightly at them. She enjoyed this part of her job, clearly. Maura had a practiced smile of her own as she extricated herself from Jane's arms, but couldn't bring herself to let go of the detective's hand. Jane hummed aimlessly and swung their joined hands in a wide arc as they walked out the back exit and to the parking lot.

"G'bye!" she called back over her shoulder to the building. "G'bye, g'bye!"

Maura drove as carefully as she could, taking each corner at a wide, slow angle so she wouldn't jar Jane as they made their way back to Beacon Hill. Jane had agreed to put on her seatbelt after a little prompting, and that was all that was holding her upright as she dozed off with her mouth open and drooled against the black leather seat covers.

"Huh? Huh?" she bellowed when they coasted to a gentle stop behind Maura's house and the engine cut off. "W'are we goin'?"

"Nowhere," Maura assured her. "We're here." She held out a tissue, and waited until Jane finally took it and wiped the side of her face. "Use your notepad if it hurts to talk."

Jane uncapped the pen she had clutched in her fist and scrawled quickly across the paper, then held up a shaky drawing of a house with a chimney, smoke, and a shining sun in the sky. Two stick figures with long hair stood in front of the house. "HOME" was written underneath. She grinned.

Maura smiled and patted Jane's hand. "Well, you certainly stay here often enough. Although I don't actually have a chimney," she noted. "The fire is gas, but...what's that in the corner?" She pointed at a round object at the edge of the page with what looked like giant eyes and a leering slash for a mouth.

"M' m'th'r," Jane grumbled and added pointed witch's hat.

In the living room, Maura guided Jane to the couch where she had set out extra pillows and several blankets plus the all important remote control. While Jane stared blearily at a sports highlight show, Maura measured out the ingredients she had purchased the night before and added everything to the industrial strength blender to liquify before adding crushed ice. She poured the chocolate-peanut butter-banana smoothie out into two cups and added a lid to Jane's. She had read that patients should avoid straws after wisdom tooth surgery, at least for a few days, so she added a spoon so Jane could scrape out any chocolate bits at the bottom.

While Jane cautiously sipped the smoothie, and then began to drink in deepening gulps, Maura pulled down a stack of DVDs down from the middle shelf of a built-in bookcase.

"I know you don't like 'reading' your movies," she teased, "so I didn't pick out any foreign films. I rented these just for you since you always complain about my old movies, although there's no scientific basis for black-and-white hurting your eyes."  
>"Mmm hmmm!" Jane protested. "Yes, it...owowowowow!"<p>

Maura shook her head and smothered a sigh. "Jane, you haven't even watched one yet. It can't 'hurt your eyes' while it's still in the box."

"Brain freeeeeeze," Jane moaned. She had put the half-finished smoothie down on the coffee table and was clutching her head with both hands. "Ow, ow..."

Maura decided that in her current state there was no point in discussing the correct scientific term with Jane (_sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia)_ or reminding her how many times she had done this to herself before with a double scoop of Rocky Road. Instead, she found the cup of hot tea that she had made herself and left cooling on the kitchen counter and brought it to Jane, instructing her to sip slowly and the heat would help loosen the soft palate and constricted blood vessels.

After dutifully drinking half the cup, grimacing at the unsweetened oolong, Jane finally sighed in relief and slumped back on the couch. "Th'nk yu," she murmured. "Yu safed me."

Maura murmured back that they seemed to 'safe' each other on a regular basis while she set up the DVDs on the coffee table, spines out. After a great deal of deliberation which culminated in a one-eye-closed round of Eeenie Meenie Miney Moe, Jane selected _The Bourne Identity_, and lasted precisely ten minutes and thirteen seconds before passing out cold.

§ § §

By dinner time, the worst of the anesthesia had worn off, and Jane had come around enough to prop up on the couch and watch the movie for a second time. Her requests for more cold drinks were clearly understandable, as was her plaintive plea for a cheeseburger. Holding firm to the post-op guidelines, Maura brought out a warm, brimming bowl of tomato soup instead. Even Jane, who had once accused Maura of using soup to sneak unauthorized vegetables into her diet, had to admit it was delicious.

"Um, wait..." Jane looked up at her, spoon raised, with beseeching eyes. "Don't go."

Maura had tidying up the living area, all the while wondering how Jane had managed to leave it such a wreck when she had barely moved off the couch, but she stopped at the vulnerable tone in Jane's voice

"All right, all right." She set the stack of glasses down on the sideboard and returned to the couch. She sat down next to Jane and put one comforting hand on her knee. The gesture was instinctive, but she removed her hand as soon as she realized what she had done. "Do you need more to drink?"

"No, I wanna watch a movie. But you need to stay." Now Jane's hand was on Maura's knee instead, but it wasn't going anywhere.

Maura had planned to catch up on some reading, but she had to admit that the idea of simply sitting still would be welcome after chasing after Jane all day. "All right," she agreed. "I'm sure we can find something."

"This one." Jane had already picked one of the boxes out of the stack and was waving it at Maura, narrowly missing the tip of her nose. "I want this one. It's got Kevin Costner; he's cool. I used to have a crush on him."

Maura took the box away from Jane, idly realizing that they had never discussed crushes before and wondering if that was unusual for two friends as close as they were. "But not anymore?" she asked as she slid the disc into the player.

Jane shrugged, an exaggerated heave of her shoulders. "Nah. I mean, I like blondes, but...I dunno."

As the opening scene unfolded, Maura found herself growing more perplexed, and she turned the box over to read the description again.

"Jane, I may have made a mistake at the store. I thought this was an action film, but it looks like a musical. I know you don't like musicals, so if you want to pick something else..."

"Sssshhhhh. It's my teeth and this is what I want," Jane said in a grumpy, adorable way. Her third smoothie of the night was clutched in both hands as she watched with rapt attention. "Bodyguards are cool. Kevin Costner is cool. Whitney Houston is...is...I think she's dead. That's not cool."

Maura decided not to press the matter since Jane was obviously enjoying herself, and she found that if she didn't think particularly hard about the plot that she was enjoying herself too. Secretly though, she knew that was more for the company and the way Jane had gradually come to lean against her than for any real concern for Whitney Houston's safety.

As the movie continued, Jane slipped into a dozy, rambling commentary about the best practices for investigating stalking cases, and finally slid completely off Maura's shoulder and into her lap. Maura congratulated herself on having anticipated this and having a pillow ready to catch her as she watched Jane yawn and snuggled happily.

"This is such an accurate mofie," she sighed.

Maura thought that was a statement Jane never in a hundred years would have made in an undrugged state, so she couldn't resist asking. "Why is that?" She let her fingers come to rest on the pillow, just brushing the tendrils of Jane's hair.

"You can't pr'tect someone you're in love wif at th'same time. Too distracting."

Maura knew the trope all too well and how commonly it was used as an excuse for why two characters couldn't be together, so it didn't even seem worth protesting. Then Jane turned, staring directly up at her with those wide brown eyes, and she was helpless to look away.

"See, that's why I can't say it. I've gotta protect you. What if someone found out, someone like Hoyt or someone really, really, really bad like Ted Bundy?"

Maura smiled, letting the words slip off the armor she'd fashioned herself over the years. "Ted Bundy is even more dead than Whitney Houston, Jane."

"But I'm still in love with you. You just can't know." Jane's mouth pressed inward, lips rolling at the admission. "Geez, I finally said it out loud—I'm in love with you. Ssshhhhh." She placed one unsteady finger to her lips. "I say it to myself when you're not there, and then...and then sometimes? I pretend I'm you and you say it back, even though I know you don't 'cause I'm just me and you're you. I just wish...I wish I could tell you."

Maura had begun to tremble, unable to tell herself that this was still just a product of the drugs, as Jane brought her hand up to gently cup one cheek. "That's our song," she whispered as Whitney Houston began to sing. She let her thumb brush across Maura's lips. "I love you, Maura. I'll always love you, but..."

_I would only be in your way..._

_I'm not what you need..._

_But I will always love you_

Maura remained on the couch, as still as stone, through the rest of the movie while Jane slept, blissfully unaware of her friend's silent tears.

§ § §

Jane slowly awoke in the softest, most comfortable bed she'd ever slept in, warm and wrapped in a down comforter. The feeling of comfort and peace gradually faded as the ache in her jaw came throbbing to life. She tried to open her dry, sticky mouth and instantly regretted it.

_The dentist_, she groaned, and slipped her head under the covers. Jane reached out blindly with one arm and found another pillow which she pulled into a hug, curling her body around it. It felt good, but something was still missing. Jane tried to think, but that hurt too much, so she closed her eyes and tried to remember where she was.

Of course, that was easy. She knew that perfume anywhere, and she pulled the pillow closer, breathing in the scent. She was at Maura's. She'd had her wisdom teeth out yesterday and she'd needed someone to watch her for the first 24 hours. No, she'd told the receptionist, she didn't have a husband or a boyfriend or a 'roommate'. She had Maura, and Maura was a real doctor, not some tooth puller. They hadn't asked any more questions after that.

As she slowly came online, Jane heard faint sounds from outside the bedroom, so she flipped the covers back off her head and sat up so she could listen. The pre-dawn light was mercifully dim, and she blinked until her eyes focused, but she still didn't see Maura. The sound intensified then, and she recognized it as the shower. Of course, Maura was going in early to work and she didn't want to cause a disturbance.

Jane flopped back to the bed. Maura's very existence was a disturbance, she thought glumly, but there was nothing to be done about it, so there it was. She tried taking deep breaths, but the sound of the shower and the thought of what was going on just beyond the door only made her pulse climb steadily higher. And then she detected another sound mixed in with the water, something just beyond the range of her hearing—too faint to make out, but too loud to ignore. She sat up again, pulling the covers around her, and listened as hard as she could.  
>Maura was singing.<p>

That in itself wasn't so surprising—Maura liked to sing even though she was flat out awful at it. Jane thought it was cute though and could never bring herself to tease Maura about it. She would just turn up the radio a little more, sing a little louder to carry over Maura who remained blissfully unaware. Well, she'd always thought as her heart melted even more, Maura couldn't be good at _everything_.

Jane cocked her head, trying for once to actually listen to what Maura was singing instead of tuning it out, but the combination of the water and the closed door was too much. It was familiar though, so familiar that it was hovering on the tip of her tongue which somehow made it that much harder to identify. Dammit, what _was_ that?

And then suddenly the sound broke off, replaced by something irregular, muffled and jagged. Something was wrong. She didn't know what, but she should trust her gut. It almost sounded like Maura was crying, or was just it the water? Jane felt her protective instinct spike, and she swung her legs out of bed and crept across the floor. She had just put two fingers gently on the door handle, when the shower cut off and the room fell into a deafening silence.

Jane panicked. What the hell was she doing? What kind of a creepy stalker stood listening outside while her best friend took a shower? The cowardly kind who nursed a crippling secret crush and never had the courage to...

Without her consent, Jane's legs had coiled and sprung, launching her back across the room in a flying leap onto the bed. She slid into the tangled covers just as the door to the bathroom opened, and Maura walked back into the bedroom. Jane held perfectly still with her mouth sagging slightly open in the imitation of sleep that she had perfected through high school when her mother would make surprise bedtime inspections.

As Maura moved quietly around the bedroom, she finally let one eyelid barely peek open to see how bending over by the dresser, sliding one sheer stocking up a slender, curved calf, past the knee, under hem of her skirt, and up to... Jane slammed the eyelid shut again ruthlessly strangled the frustrated whimper that nearly escaped.

When the bedroom door quietly closed, she let out a sigh and congratulated herself on having survived. The feeling of relief lasted all of twelve seconds before she heard her mother calling for her down the hall.

Jane pretended to still be asleep, and she let her mother wake her, fuss over her, and coax her into getting dressed and coming downstairs for breakfast, all the while struggling to understand why she felt so sad and unsettled. There was some memory just out of reach, like the song from the shower, and Jane knew if she could just find it again, then she could put it to rest, like finally reaching an itch just out of reach.

Thirty minutes later, she was still sitting at the breakfast table and racking her brain while Angela tried to convince her to drink something, to eat something, or to just say anything at all. Secretly Jane was glad that her cheeks had swollen up so much that talking was nearly impossible, although it didn't keep her mother from pestering her with questions and even hugging her.

"You can talk to me if you need to," Angela urged her. "You know I'll always love you."

_I will always love you._

_I will always..._

In a gargling, flailing tangle of limbs, keys, and memories of last night, Jane fought her way past her mother and out to her car, despite Angela's desperate pleas that she wasn't supposed to operate heavy machinery yet. With half a mile left to go to the station, Jane slapped the bubble light on the roof of the car and accelerated around the cars ahead of her which had infuriated her by holding to the recommended speed limit.

Racing through the BPD lobby, she hammered the elevator's down button with the heel of one hand, then took the stairs instead. Her heart was in her throat as she clattered down the flights, still trying to understand why in the hell after so many years had she opened her mouth last night? Yes, she'd been drugged, but it wasn't the first time. She'd landed herself in the hospital half a dozen times to come around with Maura waiting there beside her, but she'd never let her secret slip then.

Before she'd found the answer, Jane was in the morgue, searching from room to room and calling out for Maura in a way that she later realized sounded a lot more like a wounded water buffalo than someone trying to locate the chief medical examiner. In her typical genius fashion, Maura emerged from one of the store rooms looking annoyed at the interruption, but when she realized who the intruder was her expression shifted instantly.

"Jane, what's wrong?" Maura's tone was professional and calm, but her eyes were anything but. "Are you having a reaction to the painkillers? I've never seen such severe swelling. That must be very painful. I'm sorry, I can't understand you—is your airway obstructed? Just nod once if..."

Frustrated, Jane shook her head. She had dropped the notepad somewhere on the front lawn, and now she searched her pockets for anything she could use to communicate. She emerged with a mint green piece of paper, her copy of the permission form from the dentist. There in neat block letting across the bottom line was:

_Responsible Party: Maura Isles_

And that was it. That was why she had let her guard down last night, because it didn't need to be up in the first place. With Maura, she felt safe. Maura was the one person who looked out for her, took care of her, and protected her without expecting anything in return. Jane knew down in that very reliable gut that she didn't have to worry about sacrificing herself to protect Maura because, actually, it was Maura protecting her.

Jane looked down as she felt a pressure on her elbow. Maura was touching her, uncertain and worried. She wanted to smile and be reassuring, but her jaw wouldn't let her. Even if she could have tried to explain verbally, there was no point as Maura had always left her speechless with her smile, her kindness, her beauty, her heart. There were no words; none were needed.

Jane took one step forward and slipped her arms around Maura as if they had done this a hundred times before. Maura hesitated for a fraction, but allowed herself to be pulled close as Jane forced her cracked, husky voice to hum the bittersweet, familiar tune in Maura's ear, finding the notes and gathering strength.

_I love you, I will always love you._

For an instant, Maura froze until recognition dawned, and she turned her blinking, tear-filled eyes up to Jane. Then Maura was smiling, then laughing, then crying, and then, finally, kissing Jane so fiercely that even she had been able to talk she would have been utterly out of breath.

And for years afterwards, whenever someone asked which one of them had spoken up first, Maura simply smiled and said, "Words really aren't Jane's strong suit, so you could say I was the responsible party."

The End


End file.
